Reading Notes: Part A for Week 11: Great Plains - The Ghost's Resentment
Long ago, a Dakota died and his parents made him a death lodge for him atop a cliff. They laid his body on a grave scaffold within the lodge and paid their respects.
Now, in that village lived another married man who lived with his father. His father often old his other old friends over to smoke with him and chat. One night, he proclaimed to go to the death lodge and cut apart the tent skins for robes.
At once, the young married man opposed his father's idea. He pitied the man who died, and his parents had given all they had to prepare the death lodge for him. Still, his father persisted and convinced his fellow friends to partake in the endeavor.
So, his father and friend departed the home to head up the cliff towards the death lodge. Meanwhile, the young man asked his wife for a piece of white clay, to which she declined. After much persistence, she hands him the white chalk, and he spreads it upon his face, making his appearance resemble that of a ghost.
He set out in the night, hurrying towards the death lodge in a parallel path that his father had taken. He arrives at the tent, climbed up and thrust his head out through the skin of the tent. He waited for his father and friends to arrive to do his bidding.
His father and other men arrived soon, and they sat down upon reaching the lodge. His father pulled out a pipe and encouraged the others to do the same, sharing a smoke with the dead one last time before they take the tent skins for their own.
Upon raising his pipe, his father spots the white pale face peering out from the tent skin and lets out a frightful shout. The men start running with the ghost giving chase. The two men slip and fall, but the ghost kept chase to his father.
Following this event, the son teased his father and friends often over the incident, for he had warned them of tampering with the dead. This story illustrates the respect that the young man has for the dead, especially highlighting the pity for the man who died and the parents who built him a death lodge with all they could afford. The story also describes the uncaring nature of the father and old men, for they were willing to tamper with a burial place for their own gain and interest.
Bibliography: The Ghost's Resentment from Myths and Legends of the Great Plains by Katharine Berry Judson (1913)
Now, in that village lived another married man who lived with his father. His father often old his other old friends over to smoke with him and chat. One night, he proclaimed to go to the death lodge and cut apart the tent skins for robes.
At once, the young married man opposed his father's idea. He pitied the man who died, and his parents had given all they had to prepare the death lodge for him. Still, his father persisted and convinced his fellow friends to partake in the endeavor.
So, his father and friend departed the home to head up the cliff towards the death lodge. Meanwhile, the young man asked his wife for a piece of white clay, to which she declined. After much persistence, she hands him the white chalk, and he spreads it upon his face, making his appearance resemble that of a ghost.
He set out in the night, hurrying towards the death lodge in a parallel path that his father had taken. He arrives at the tent, climbed up and thrust his head out through the skin of the tent. He waited for his father and friends to arrive to do his bidding.
His father and other men arrived soon, and they sat down upon reaching the lodge. His father pulled out a pipe and encouraged the others to do the same, sharing a smoke with the dead one last time before they take the tent skins for their own.
Upon raising his pipe, his father spots the white pale face peering out from the tent skin and lets out a frightful shout. The men start running with the ghost giving chase. The two men slip and fall, but the ghost kept chase to his father.
Following this event, the son teased his father and friends often over the incident, for he had warned them of tampering with the dead. This story illustrates the respect that the young man has for the dead, especially highlighting the pity for the man who died and the parents who built him a death lodge with all they could afford. The story also describes the uncaring nature of the father and old men, for they were willing to tamper with a burial place for their own gain and interest.
Dakota Scaffold Burial - Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Bibliography: The Ghost's Resentment from Myths and Legends of the Great Plains by Katharine Berry Judson (1913)
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